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Bethel Park, USC ends PIAA run with quarterfinal losses

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Jake Foster (12) attempts to console Christian Ito (5) while Brett Meinert (background) collapses to the floor after a loss to Central York, 71-60, ended their scholastic careers at Upper St. Clair High School. Ito and Meinert, who scored 10 and 12 tallies in the loss, are the only seniors on a team that posted a 22-6 record this winter.
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Mike Mathias drives to the basket and draws a blocking call during Bethel Park's 67-51 loss to Moon in a PIAA Class 5A quarterfinal playoff game. Mathias scored 17 points in the loss, including 15 off five 3-point field goals.
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Julian Dahlem (right) battles Ben Rill (13) for a rebound while Tyler Robbins (20) watches the action. Dahlem has two steals and layupss in the fourth-quarter as Upper St. Clair attempted to overcome a poor start in its PIAA quarterfinal playoff game. The Panthers, who fell behind by halftime, 34-18, dropped a 71-60 decision to Central York and ended their season at 22-6 overall.

The PIAA semifinals once again proved elusive for the boys basketball teams from Bethel Park (15-14) and Upper St. Clair (22-6).

The Black Hawks, who have never been in a state semifinal, succumbed to Moon, 67-51, in a Class 5A quarterfinal contest played March 15 at Chartiers Valley High School. In fact, Bethel Park had not won a PIAA game since 2000 until they upset Hershey, 59-45, and edged Fox Chapel, 48-43, in the opening rounds of the tournament.

The Black Hawks gave a valiant effort against the Tigers. In fact, they were tied, 40-40, with the WPIAL champions after Jack Bruckner converted a 3-point play with 1:47 remaining in the third quarter.

The Tigers (26-3) went ahead for good on a 3-pointer from Caden Schmidt before the frame ended and used a 10-2 run to start the fourth quarter to put distance between themselves and Bethel Park. Moon salted away the victory with a 12-for-17 showing from the charity stripe.

Aiden Reesman scored 10 of his game-high 26 points in the final frame, including 6 of 6 from the line. He buried a pair of long-range field goals to propel the Tigers to a first-frame advantage of 22-15 against the Black Hawks.

Elijah Guillory tossed in a dozen markers. His two 3-pointers provided a 34-31 cushion at halftime for the Tigers, who converted seven treys in the game.

Mike Mathias fired in 17 points for the Black Hawks, 15 of them off 3-pointers.

Nick Brown followed with 10 tallies.

In addition to Mathias and Brown, Bethel Park graduates four additional players from its roster, including leading scorer Shawn Davis. The two other seniors on the squad were Connor Karabinos, Paul Digbeu and Andrew Polosky.

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